TYPE Greek Imperial, Berytos (Phoenicia), 1st - 3rd c. AD, AE12 DESCRIPTION . Obv: Satyr Marsyas standing with wineskin, legend COL across Rev: Prow of galley, BER above REFERENCE: LK 2249, BMC 27 GRADING: AVF / F, dark patina w/ heavy orange earthen encrustation, scarce ORDER INFO: G1719, $42 Marsyas' double pipe (flute) was an instrument that, according to one legend, Athena discarded, having seen how blowing it disfigures her face; he picked it up, and made himself a master of it. Although most accounts state that he held his own against Apollo in his musical challenge (being even favored by the Muses), in the end the wrath of his divine opponent was severe; he was skinned alive, and is shown here carrying around his skin in the form of a wineskin. However, in Roman times Marsyas also became, though associations with Liber Pater and Libertas, a symbol of civic freedom. A prominent statue to that effect was erected in the Forum Romanum, and other similar ones soon followed thoughout the Greek Imperial realm; this reverse is possibly a representation of one of them (See Amer. J. Num. 1 (1989), "Marsyas at Corinth" by M. H. Wallbank)